For some time now I’ve been pinning and saving routine chart ideas for my 3 year old. Peanut loves to know what is happening and initiate activities on her own. She often asks me questions like, “Is today choir day?” or “Do we get to go to the park today?” or “Is it snack time yet?” As such, I knew for both her sanity and mine we needed some type of routine chart that she could follow day in and day out.
First, I gathered on all the routines and compared what I liked and disliked about each as there are several great things I knew I’d want to incorporate. Here’s my analysis. Keep in mind, while these charts did not quite fit the needs of our family, they may be just what you need for your family so don’t discount their effectiveness on account of my own investigation. Feel free to check them out for yourself.
Chart #1
Daily Schedule from Tip Junkie
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Chart #2
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| Morning Routine on How Does She? |
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Chart #3
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| Chore Chart Cards on Biblical Homemaking |
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Chart #4
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| Routine Chart on Homemaker’s Challenge |
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Chart # 5
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| Chore Chart from Money Saving Mom |
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Conclusion
When it was all said and done I knew I wanted to incorporate the following in our routine chart:
- Use of pictures and words so that the chart could grow with her as she learns to read but also work with her now while she can only look at the pictures.
- Use labels that could also be used on our workbox chart in case we ever want to cross over
- Color and attractive images
- Flexibility to switch out labels when desired but also constant enough that the labels do not have to be reset every day
- Ability to view the entire day at once or at least an entire set of routines at once
- Ability to check off or mark an activity/event complete for self-satisfaction
- Way to store labels for easy retrieval (so that you don’t have to pull them all out of a box to find what you need)
- Small enough in size to fit on the refrigerator inconspicuously or the backside of a narrow closet door
The Result
As a result, I created the My Day Routine Chart, a customizable routine chart that can aid Peanut not only now but also grow with her as she grows. She has been using it for about a month now and still enjoys marking when she’s completed tasks on her to-do lists. In addition, they have really helped us for better morning and bedtime routines. It’s been great!
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| My Day Chart which is on our refrigerator |
On each Routine Chart there are a series of numbered boxes. As you’ll notice in the picture above there are two boxes with the number 1, two boxes with the number 2 and so on. I place all the activity labels in the top box and when Peanut finishes a task she moves it to the bottom box with the same number. What I really like about this is on days where the activities stay the same, I don’t have to do anything. Instead, Peanut will just move the labels from the lower box back to the upper box on the second day. It saves me time, Peanut can still see that she completed a task, but we don’t loose any labels because they always stay attached.
Currently we have 4 routine charts. For our regular routines such as our morning routine, afternoon (nap time) routine, and bedtime routine each routine has its own chart. Since these activities never change we have these on Peanut’s closet for her to mark herself every day.
Her “My Day” chart is the other chart we use and this is where I change out the labels if our day has some special events such as shopping or church or visiting friends. Beside this chart we keep the “Spare Me” chart where we store all our spare labels for easy retrieval.
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| Morning, Afternoon, and Bedtime Routine Charts |
I specifically created these charts so that they can be adjusted in size based on the needs of each child. For instance, if you look at the afternoon and bedtime chart above they only have 7 doubled boxes where the morning routine has 14 boxes. Each routine chart is created so that you can have anywhere from 7 to 28 activities depending on how many activities you want to include on your chart. Just cut the chart off after the desired row to make it how long or short you desire. Right now our morning chart is 14 squares long because we are still in the final stages of potty training. Eventually I hope to not have to include “diaper” and “panties” and “go potty” on every chart shortening it to only 7 squares, but for now we’ll leave it as is to remind both mommy and Peanut that its potty time.
Highlights
If you are interested in printing off some of routine charts to use with your own children, let me just give you a few highlights of some of what you will find in the FREE printable packet below.
- 8 printable pages
- 4 customizable routine charts–”My Morning Routine,” “My Afternoon Routine,” “My Bedtime Routine,” and “My Day”
- 1 single square “My Day” routine chart for when the child gets older and does not need to move the labels to see they have completed an activity
- 1 Spare Me Card for unused activity labels
- 1 routine chart extension page–to extend your routine charts from 14 to 28 square activities
- 98 round activity cards!
Making Your Charts
To make these charts, you will need computer paper, access to a laminator (I use this one, but you can always go to someplace like Mardel where they will let you laminate for $.25/foot), some scissors, and lots of velcro dots (number varies depending on how many activity cards and activity squares you will be using).
1. Download and print the free routine charts below.
2. Decide on the length of your charts. Do you want 7 double squares or 28 double squares? Cut accordingly.
3. Laminate your charts and labels.
4. Cut out your labels and spare me chart.
5. Apply velcro dots to your charts and labels.
6. Hang and use.
Note: Bear in mind that learning how to use the routine charts effectively, as with anything you teach your children, will take some time but I have been amazed at how quickly Peanut has caught on and enjoys using it each day.
To receive your free printables, just click on the image below. Enjoy!
Bring up a child by teaching him the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn away from it. Proverbs 22:6
Hi! Welcome to Cornerstone Confessions. My name is Kathy Gossen and I'm a full time homemaker learning about what it means to be a godly woman in the everyday. On Cornerstone Confessions I share my adventures in organizing, homeschooling, cooking, parenting, and more as a means to encourage other women in their quest to becoming a Titus 2 model in their homes and beyond.
Brilliant!!! I love how you did your research, determined what was most important and then dove in and created it to share! I agree totally with your analysis and can’t wait to use these charts. Thank you!!!
I love the charts, I have little ones and I keep telling myself to make some charts. I think now u can actually make one modeled after yours, absolutely brilliant.
Thank you! I am glad it inspired you do create something that will work for you…after all that is what it’s all about…making it work for you. Thanks again.
Kathy
What a great job you did- our routines around here are pretty laid back, so this might be very helpful for us! Especially when my son starts kindergarten in the Fall
Thanks again- hope you have a great week!
Kathy, I LOVE what you came up with. You did an amazing job and it is so nice of you to offer it for free! I wanted to let you know that I featured you this week at Simply Sensational Tuesday. Thanks for linking up! http://www.organizinghomelife.com/archives/3377
Well yeah! Thank you.
This is fantastic!!! I have consistently had the same issues with finding a good chart for my kiddos. THANK YOU
Stopping by from the Better Mom Mondays link up, and so glad I did! haha
With love, Rebecca
http://www.FromMyMountainView.com
OMG!! thank you! This is so perfect for me. i’ve been trying to find something to work on a schedule for months, but can’t find one that I can figure out, let alone my little guy. This is so easy for me, which means I’ll be able to explain it to him and keep up with it. i can not say thank you enough. I am so grateful for mommies like you who are able to figure this stuff out for mommies like me!
Marissa @ forfunreadinglist.blogspot.com
LOL. You’re welcome.
Wow! These are great and sounds like the idea was very well researched! (That would be me –find out what else is out there and then moosh it all together to fit our family!) Kids do so much better when they have a routine and know what to expect. This looks like the perfect tool! Thanks so much for sharing on Busy Monday at A Pinch of Joy. Hope to see you again soon!
You are welcome. Thanks for the party!
A lot of great options! I don’t have a chore chart yet but I guess I need to get on it
Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
Thank you so much for this! I am printing it out now and am excited to try it out. My son thrives on routine (though I am horrible at it!) and my last chart I made only worked for a few days. I think this will work better so we will see!
You are welcome. I hope it helps. Keep me updated. I’d love to know if and how it worked best for you. Thanks for stopping by.
Kathy
Is there anyway to download your chart for free with out subscribing and paying for the scribd. ?
I’m sad to say Scribd has recently changed their download policy. Scribd is still a free service as long as you sign up and contribute a document (it can be anything…even zzzzz’s on a page) but I understand not everyone wants to do that. E-mail me and I’ll see what I can do. And, in the meantime, I’m going to be looking for an alternative. Suggestions, anyone?
Kathy
Would it be possible for you to email me the printables? I don’t really want to sign up for scribd in order to print them out. Thanks!
lollymerkley@gmail.com
I just changed the format to google docs. Try it again. I hope that helps!
Kathy
Those are really awesome. You have spent a lot of time on them. I really need one for my daughter so thank you!
You are welcome!
Kathy
Very nicely done! I like the use of the velcro pads as well as the cute pictures included on each one. Here’s my attempt at a Routine Chart. My son just loves it, which is why I put it up on Etsy for others. I’m currently on a trip so the link is to a sold listing: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/94110809
Kathy- just stumbled across ur blog and LOVE IT! Love the routine chart, question, when making our own round activity cards on the blank ones provided, is there a program that i can use, that i can cut and paste? Or do i need to print out ur labels and then separately glue each customized label? thanks so much.. any advice will help
Welcome! Customized labels…I used Microsoft Publisher and Office’s pics for most of my clip art. If you choose to make your own I made the circles 1″. Hope that helps. Have fun!
Thank you for doing all the leg work to develop the routine charts! I’ve been a “fly by your seat” and unstructured mom for too long now. It FINALLY occurred to me that having a routine like my daughter has in school would be not only beneficial to me, however both my children. Treat my stay at home life like I would working outside the home. Again, I really appreciate the hard work and time you put into this. Blessings, Jennifer
I’m glad you like it. I laminated the page and then cut them out. Call me lazy, but I just didn’t want to have to cut the circles out twice. LOL. They seem to have held up pretty well though. I’ve occasionally had to glue a couple back together but for the time saved cutting the circles out twice, I say it was worth it. Hope that helps.
Thank you very much! I think my son will really benefit from the pictures and having his day to look at up front!
You are welcome!
I love this. I am just starting to home school my 4 year old, and I think this will help us a lot! I am going to have to make a circle that says “underpants” though, since he doesn’t wear “panties”
lol
Lol. I didn’t even think about that! Maybe you could just mark out the word “panties” with a black permanent marker unless your 4 year old reads already. Sorry about that!
This ROCKS!!!! I am so grateful you did this. I thought wow I really need to get organized and get in a routine but I knew that me and Madeleine needed to have visuals to help us. Thank you so very much for sharing your wisdom and hardwork and for FREEEEEEEE! Wow thank you!
You are welcome! Hope it helps!
I loove it. I was just going to revamp our old one and this seems to be a very good idea. I appreciate you sharing it.
Yeah! Hope you guys find it helpful!
I just wanted to say Thank you Thank you Thank you! I was searching online for a bedtime chart for my 4 year and old your chart is going to work perfect!
Yeah! I’m so glad you found them and will be able to use them!
Hi! I just discovered your blog after searching for bedtime routine ideas. Thanks for making these great printables available! We have our morning and bedtime charts done, and have been using them for 4 days with great results. My 3 yo daughter loves moving the pieces when she finishes a task
THANKS!
So glad to hear it! Yeah! Glad they worked for you.